PD4106-1202 was delivered new in April of 1962 as fleet number 121 to Tropical Coach Lines, DBA Gray Line Sightseeing Tours, HQ'd in Miami, FL. It was one of a five bus order for them, all delivered at the same time.

I doubt if a sightseeing outfit in Miami would opt for cutting out about 8 -10 paying passengers for local tours, so they were probably delivered as stock 35-footers.

OTOH, there's an urban legend out there that says an outfit in CO took some 4106s and cut out a five-foot section so that they could run tours up Pike's Peak. I still haven't been able to confirm who did the work, how many were done, nor who the bus company was that owned them.

However, I did see a 30-footer for sale at Horizon Coach about 4-5 years ago during the Arcadia bus rally. Nobody was around to get a tour, sadly. Not sure if I have any pics or not, they might be on an archived hard drive. Exterior was a nice metallic green with white accents, and it had a 6V92TA mated to a V730, IIRC.

3-PD4106 30 ft coaches were in service for the Pike's Peak Gray Line Tours.Use to have the serial numbers of the 3 coaches.The 4106's were reworked in California.Not by GMC truck and CoachI saw one that was converted to a motorhome in South Florida it was owned by a Southwest Airline Capt.I understand that he has sold it.4106 Serial number 1202 was one of the coaches (True)

For what it's worth, a friend and I were given the opportunity to save all the parts that we could take off of a 4106 in Woodinville, WA, before it was scrapped. The owner was a retired airline pilot; he was going to convert the bus, but finally wrote the project off.

This bus was 30 feet long; it had one bay cut out of it. The brakes had been converted to spring brakes. In the process, the brake converter cut through the bay wall and an angle bracket. The result was the floor of the bay cracked on each side of the center of the bus.

This was definitely a Pike's Peak bus. I got a chance to drive it around the block a couple of times and it was a real hot rod. My friend still has the engine and a lot of other parts out of it. Brandon bought the VS2-8 out of it and put it in his bus. I understand that the transmission was doing fine, last I heard.

Was that shorty 4106 you helped part out by chance a metallic green color?

All -

More info has surfaced about these 30-ft shorties. Only three were modified. As we now know, 1202 came from Tropical in Miami. The other two came from MK&O, based out of Tulsa, a Trailways carrier. VINs will be forthcoming.

The shortening was done by an outfit in Los Angeles, and then the coaches went to Pikes Peak Gray Line. From Fred Rayman via JL Vickers, here's one of the three in PPGL paint: